Warm westerly winds have brought not only warmer-than-average temperatures to South Korea over the weekend, but also heavy concentrations of particulate pollution.
All regions are forecast to experience “bad” levels of dust through Saturday.
As of 11 a.m., Friday, air quality levels were labeled as “bad” due to high dust levels in the central parts of the country — consisting of the Greater Seoul region, Gangwon Province and the North and South Chungcheong provinces — as well as North Gyeongsang Province, Ulsan, Gwangju and Jeju Island.
According to the Ministry of Environment and the Korea Meteorological Administration, dust particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter — known as PM 2.5 — are forecast to remain at “bad” levels at the Greater Seoul region, South Chungcheong Province, North and South Jeolla provinces and Jeju Island until Saturday. This is due to westerly winds carrying the dust in from overseas.
South Korea classifies levels of PM 2.5 between 36 and 75 micrograms per cubic meter as “bad,” while the World Health Organization recommends keeping levels below 25 micrograms.
However, due to westerly winds, warm temperatures which are 3 to 10 degrees Celsius higher than average temperatures in previous years will be observed for the next few days.
Daytime temperatures on Saturday and Sunday are expected to reach 18 C and 21 C respectively and are expected to reach as high as 19 C from March 24-26.
The KMA added that there would be a significant difference between morning and daytime temperatures over these days, with morning lows expected to record 7 C and 6 C respectively on Saturday and Sunday.
Morning lows are also anticipated to not reach above 10 C from March 24 to 26.
Depending on weather patterns, temperatures are also expected to drop again from March 27.
Though temperatures won’t reach below freezing point, they are still expected to be recorded as temperatures which are lower compared to previous years’ records. Rainfall, focused on the Greater Seoul region, western parts of Gangwon Province and southern parts of the country including Jeju Island, may also be observed from March 26.
lee.jungjoo@heraldcorp.com
